5 minute read
Rebuilding Broken Walls
BY MAJOR SUE HAY
For the last four years I’ve been involved in a two-phase rebuilding project for work, which has been plagued by delay after delay. The timeframe for completion keeps getting pushed further and further out. Some have been tempted to give up and just complete phase one. I suspect this is par for the course for most rebuilding projects. Many of us are surprised to find the same is true when it comes to rebuilding our lives.
When we are broken we expect the process of healing to be done and dusted quickly. In fact, restoration may take many years as God progressively rebuilds the parts of our lives which have been broken.
Broken Walls of a Broken Nation
It seems that God is in the business of restoring both broken walls and broken people. The story of Nehemiah and the broken down walls around Jerusalem offers an example of just how God does that.
The city of Jerusalem had been destroyed earlier by an attack from enemy nations. At the time most of the people ended up in exile. But as the exiles trickled back into the city one of the first things the people set out to rebuild was the temple. The temple was the heart of both the city and the life of this God-worshipping nation. They needed it restored to allow their daily rhythms of life to get back to normal. But once the life of the nation felt more settled they lost the motivation to complete phase two of their rebuilding project. The work of rebuilding stopped. The people were too fragile and too worn out to muster enough energy to restore the broken down walls of the city. This left the city very vulnerable to attack from external forces.
Complete the Project
A similar thing can happen for us as we seek to recover from the destructive forces we experience as we journey through life: we begin a personal restoration process, but once life settles down again we may not feel the need to carry on and complete the whole process.
If we have ever experienced life unravelling we will know that facing up to and accepting the reality of our brokenness starts to bring us some relief. This is the work of step one of the Twelve Steps programme. In step two we grapple with the idea that there could be a God out there with enough power to restore our sense of wellbeing, and in step three we find the courage to hand over our life and will to the care of this God. And that process can initially bring us some relief. This amount of rebuilding can be enough to allow us to function again; it is often enough to restore our sense of serenity; it may well be enough to stop the feelings of overwhelming pain and chaos. Once our lives are more settled we usually just want to get on with living. But if we stop there we can end up like the city of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day—with outer walls that remain broken, leaving us very vulnerable to being destroyed again. The deeper issues which led to our unravelling in the first place have not yet been addressed. Sometimes, to be honest, we stop rebuilding because in the past the broken parts of our lives have just seemed impossible to fix.
Nehemiah was living away from Jerusalem when the temple was rebuilt. He was unaware the walls of the city still lay in ruins. However, when his brother arrived with news from home, Nehemiah discovered the sad truth. His heart broke, knowing the restoration process was incomplete. The rubble diminished the mana of the city and its people. This sorry state of affairs drove Nehemiah to his knees in prayer.
Pray for Restoration
Nehemiah already had faith in God. He already knew God could restore and rebuild what was broken. In a sense he had already worked the first three steps. Now he begins the work of step four. He laments. He grieves for what is not yet healed and he examines his own life and that of his people. Nehemiah took a stock-take of his own and his people’s shortcomings and confessed these to God (Nehemiah 1:6–7). Nehemiah asked God for help (Nehemiah 1:11). This is the hard work of recovery. However, this is the work that addresses our areas of vulnerability and allows us to rebuild our outer walls and strengthen our boundaries. This is hard and holy work and it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Nehemiah worked as cupbearer to the king. His job description required him to be consistently cheerful in the presence of the king. Anyone displaying sadness usually had both their job and their life terminated! After four months of processing his responses regarding the brokenness of Jerusalem, Nehemiah felt ready to risk everything by daring to express sadness in front of the king. Surprisingly, the king asked him what was wrong. Then, even more surprisingly, the king arranged support for Nehemiah to return home and rebuild the broken walls around Jerusalem. Having handed everything over to God, Nehemiah found that God provided a completely unexpected way to complete a task which had sat in the ‘too-hard basket’ for his people. He was appointed to galvanise the people to fully commit to completing the work of restoring Jerusalem. They faced opposition and ridicule, but every time this happened Nehemiah turned to the Power who was more powerful than any challenges they faced.
Persevere in Rebuilding
Nehemiah’s story reminds us that we remain vulnerable if we give up on our own rebuilding process. Even if life feels manageable again, a half-completed job leaves us without the protection we need to prevent further destruction. Nehemiah also reminds us that worthwhile rebuilding projects take time. God seems to delight in such projects and regularly commits to restoring the nation of Israel, even when they doubt it’s possible. During another point in the nation’s journey, God declares, ‘Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight’ (Isaiah 49:16, The Message). I often write on the backs of my hands when I am desperate to remember something. How incredible to imagine God being that determined to remember us and partner with us to rebuild all of the broken places of our lives.
